CATW Practice Exam

Promoting Lotteries: Is It Right To Encourage Gambling?

William Pride, “The Writers’ Selection, Kathleen McWHorter, 2^nd edition, 2000

Lotteries are not a recent phenomenon in the United States. Holding a lottery financed the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia in 1612. In 1894, the last lottery shut down, and lotteries remained illegal until 1964. As states began exploring ways of raising money without raising taxes, lotteries recaptured their appeal and their legal status.

Given that the odds of winning the top prize in a state lottery are extremely small, 1 in 12 million, why do millions of people line up to spend a hard-earned $22 billion a year in lottery tickets? They take a chance because the fantasy of getting rich quick is so appealing. To make that fantasy seem real, state governments spend almost $300 million a year on entertaining and imaginative lottery advertising.

Critics claim that most lottery advertising fails to meet the same accuracy and fairness standards required of private sector advertising. They believe it is wrong for states to encourage gambling, not only because it advances a something-for-nothing mentality, but because it is addictive. Although supporters maintain that lottery participation is voluntary, experts insist that lotteries are the most habit forming type of gambling. Pointing to statistics that low-income families spend a larger proportion of their income on tickets than other groups, opponents assert that lotteries burden the poor rather than generate revenues to help them.

At one time, cigarette and alcohol advertisers faced the question, Should advertisers protect people from themselves? Courts eventually answered yes by placing restrictions on the advertising of those products. Lottery advertisers now face similar questions. Should governments promote a game in which the vast majority of players lose? Should states sponsor activities that adversely affect lower income people? For now states insist that they advertise a legal product in a truthful way and continue to use advertising as the main ingredient in lottery promotion.